Teenagers have fewer friends than 20 years ago, research has shown - despite the increasing popularity of social media.

研究表明，與20年前相比較，盡管社交媒體越來越受人們的歡迎，但是青少年的朋友卻日益減少。

A study carried out by experts at The University of Queensland in Australia, found teens felt less lonely than two decades ago – but that they have poorer social networks.

來自澳大利亞昆士蘭州大學（The University of Queensland）的專家調查發現，盡管青少年的生活相比20年前孤獨感在減少，但是他們的社交圈子越來越小。

A survey of more than 285,000 US high school students carried out between 1991 and 2012 found young people had fewer friends with whom to interact, but less desire for more friends.

一份歷時12年（從1991年到2012年）、涵蓋28.5萬高中生的研究發現，雖然年輕人的朋友越來越少，但是他們更多交友的意向并無增多。

The Globe and Mail quotes the findings of research, printed in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, which suggests economic changes may have prompted increased individuality among young people.?

《環球郵報》（The Globe and Mail）引用刊登在《個性和社會心理學學報》（the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin）上的調查結果指出：經濟增長可能會促進年輕人個人主義的增長。

The authors behind the study, wrote: ‘Greater economic opportunities offer individuals more latitude to manage their own money, decide whom to date and decide whom to marry, reducing the influence of kin and giving people more autonomy, which may increase individualism.

該研究的撰寫人寫道：“經濟越寬裕，個體的選擇范圍越大。如何支配金錢，和誰約會、結婚，都更加自主。家族的影響減弱了，人們擁有更多自主權，個人主義也可能隨之增強。

‘Economic changes lead to increased individuality, which could lead to decreasing interest in friends, increasing self-reliance, increasing self-esteem and decreasing loneliness.’

“經濟變化促使個人主義的增長的同時，可能導致人們交友興趣減弱，使人們更多的轉向自立、增強自尊、減少孤獨感。”

Lead researcher, Dr David Clark said further research on cultures outside of the US would help determine if modernisation is the root cause of the observed results.

首席研究員大衛·克拉克（Dr David Clark）博士說，就現代化是否是造成已知結果的根本原因這一點，還有待在美國以外的其他文化中進一步研究。

He said: 'If other cultures show the same pattern of reduced loneliness in the face of poorer social networks, this would support the idea that modernisation is responsible.'

他說：“如果其他文化在面對糟糕的社交網絡時也顯示出相同的孤獨減少模式，那么這個結果將支持“現代化是已知結果的根源”這一假說。”

The findings come after a series of studies have shown that the growing use of social networking sites has had a negative affect on the quality of people's friendships.

一系列研究表明，社交網絡使用的增多不利于人們友情的提高。自此，研究人員得出了上述結論。

A study from 2006 by sociologists at Duke University also showed that on average most adults only have two people they can talk to about the most important subjects in their lives while one quarter had no close confidants at all.

來自杜克大學（Duke University）的社會學家2006的一項研究也表明，平均來講，大多數成年人只有兩個真正的知己，而四分之一的人根本沒有一個可以說知心話的人。

（翻譯：xysweetxy 編輯：陳丹妮）